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By Rose Hooper
Carroll "Pee Wee" Crowe, vice chief of the Eastern Band
of Cherokee who lost to Michell Hicks in the race for principal
chief, has filed suit against the Tribal Elections Board.
In his suit Crowe alleges that "irregularities in the absentee
voting unfairly and improperly affected the actual outcome of
the election."
Crowe said if there had been no absentee votes, he would have
won the election by almost 200 votes.
Not counting the absentee votes, Crowe received 1,718 votes to
Hicks' 1,538. In the absentee ballots, Hicks received 424 votes
to Crowe's 156. The total count showed Hicks with 1,962 votes,
92 votes over Crowe's 1,870.
Represented by the Knoxville law firm of Ritchie, Fels and Dillard
and locally by Sylva attorney James Anderson, Crowe said many
who voted absentee were not qualified because "neither they
nor their parents had resided in any township within the Qualla
Boundary."
"Illegal votes should not be allowed to determine the fate
of valid political candidates," Crowe said in his complaint.
"Only the legally-registered voters can do that."
Crowe filed a protest with the elections board, which on Sept.
19 ruled against him by upholding the original results of the
election. Crowe then sought relief through the courts, asking
for a preliminary injunction and/or temporary restraining order
against certifying the election results.
Cherokee Court Judge Matthew Martin ruled Sept. 25 that a preliminary
injunction cannot be issued since the tribe has sovereign immunity
and the elections board is an arm of the tribal government.
As such, the elections board is represented by the Cherokee Attorney
General's Office and, in this case by Annette Tarnawsky.
Crowe also asked the case be heard in tribal court, but Martin
ruled Sept. 29 that the case be transferred to the Cherokee Supreme
Court. The case is expected to be heard today (Thursday).
"We have a timeliness issue here," said Martin. "Folks
in this community have paramount interest in the outcome of this
election."
Agreeing with what he called "the urgency" of the issue,
Anderson said, "the tribe needs to know who is going to be
in charge."
One of the first steps for Crowe will be a review of the absentee
ballots to determine the qualifications of those 618 voters, Anderson
said.
According to Cherokee Code 161-10, "Voters may register in
the township in which they currently reside.
Tribal members not living on Cherokee trust lands shall register
in the township in which they or their enrolled parents last resided.
Voters moving from one township to another must re-register in
the new township."
However, in his suit, Crowe said, "The election board did
not dispute the fact that many voters in the election did not
reside on Cherokee trust lands nor did their parents reside on
Cherokee trust lands.
"Rather, the election board chose to overrule section 161-10
as a ‘restriction that is greater than that allowed in the
charter.'"
According to the decision of the election board, the charter imposes
only two restrictions for voters: that a person be a tribal member
and that they be at least 18 years of age.
"Usually it takes a lawsuit to point out problems,"
said Anderson, who has practiced law in Jackson County for the
past six years. "The elections board will need to re-look
at its policies, and, if there are problems, they need to be fixed
so this doesn't happen again."
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